Outfielder Reggie Taylor was Philadelphia's first-round
draft pick in 1995 and spent seven seasons in the Phillies' system while getting
only 18 at-bats in the majors. He was traded to the Reds on March 28 and made
his Reds debut on Opening Day when he entered the game in the eighth inning
as a pinch-runner. Three pitches later, he lit out for second, and pitcher Jeff
Fassero picked him off. (It was scored a caught-stealing.)

A.L. spells 'Al'

After the Mets' Al Leiter twice failed to get down a sacrifice
bunt in his Opening Day start, Greg Spira of the Baseball Prospectus
pointed out that Leiter hadn't put down a single sacrifice all last season.
Leiter, in fact, was the only NL pitcher to throw enough innings to qualify
for the ERA title last year without having bunted over a single runner. Asking
him to swing away is no solution, either  Leiter batted .065 last year
and is a career .088 hitter.

Double your power

The Twins had a five-homer game Opening Day, something
they didn't do last year until the first game of the second half, their 88th
game. They didn't even have a single four-homer game in the first half.

A sign?

Red Sox pitchers had a tough time Opening Day, but the
performance of ex-Sox pitchers that day was equally abysmal. Roger Clemens,
Jeff Suppan, Jeff Fassero, Cory Bailey and Brian Shouse combined to allow 17
runs in 14 innings for a 10.93 ERA, losing three of the other nine games played
that day. Meanwhile, ex-Sox hitters went 4-for-27 (.148).